To Protect and Serve
by Zachana16
Summary: He'd run as if the fires of the Pit were at his back, injured too badly to fight on. He goes offline, returning to find his injuries mysteriously healed. In search of the answers Barricade will learn the true meaning of To Protect and Serve.
1. Beyond the Darkness

**To Protect and Serve**

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Transformers or any of its affiliated characters. Only Faith and Nicole are mine. The rest belong to people with a lot more money and creativity than I've got. As always a special thank you goes out to my wonderful beta Blackwing.Rose for all the help and support she gives me.

**Author's Note**: This story coincides with the events of my other Transformers fan fiction;_ Autobot in Shining Armor._ As of chapter seven of that story these two fictions take place in the same frame of time. Thank you and please enjoy.

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Prologue: Beyond the Darkness

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_**Pain. **_It was the first thing his systems registered when he came back online once again – the first thing his sensors screamed at him. It was not a foreign sensation by a long shot…oh no…but this was the sort of pain that meant he wouldn't be getting back up again.

Warnings from his internal diagnostic systems told him that his spark case had been compromised; he was facing imminent system failure, followed by complete deactivation. Several critical energon lines within his chasis had been severed in the fight, many of which could not be self repaired. It was ironic really. As cautious as he'd always been, as thoroughly as he'd planned out each and every attack, he hadn't planned for the inevitability of his own demise. He was a fighter to the core of his being, but even he knew when there was no changing the inevitable. He'd either bleed out from the severed lines or his spark would extinguish from the strain put on it. Either way, he was fragged.

Slag it all – he hadn't expected Prime to get so violent with him over the puny fleshling. He hadn't expected there to be no resistance when he attacked her. Of course not, Autobot honor would never allow for that. Things had been going so well – all according to his plan. He'd shot the roof down on Prime, knocked out the idiot CMO so that he would not interfere, and cleared the rubble from the roof with little difficulty.

Things had deviated from there. He hadn't expected her to survive the roof collapsing on them, but she'd wormed her way under Ratchet's hand and been spared. Of course, that was just a minor setback. He easily snatched her into his hand – had, in fact, enjoyed the brief chase she gave him when she tried to escape. All futile, of course, but at least she wasn't boring. Then the squishy bitch had had the gall to call him a _coward_, of all things. Not the smartest idea when he was the one that would ultimately decide if her death was quick and painless or…the other option was much more fun. Torment the girl until she deactivated.

It was such a simple thing really. Destroy the fragile existence of the femme squishy before either of her Autobot guardians got up to defend her again. He'd crushed her tiny form in his hands…felt her internals breaking under the strain. He had even managed to draw a pained scream from her lips before she went offline. It had probably been that scream that had given Prime the strength to pull himself out of the debris and attack him again. Of course, that furious roar the normally calm Autobot gave out before he'd been savagely attacked should have warned him of what was to come. Optimus Prime – the one eternally spouting the nonsense about 'not killing the enemy unless absolutely necessary' – attacked him with a ferocity he'd never seen from the mech before. It had been both frightening and exciting at the same time. Frightening because he knew that Prime fought at least as well as Megatron did – at least he did when he wasn't holding onto all his ideals and restraint. Excitement danced through his systems as well, the challenge of fighting against a more than worthy opponent surging through him and goading him on.

That fight had been so terrifyingly one-sided after a few minutes that he knew he'd have to think fast. Prime had his hand in his chasis – had in fact pulled the cover clean off in one hard tug before grabbing ahold of his flaring spark. Oh, and the pain…it had been one of the most painful things he'd ever experienced in his long lifetime. He knew he owed the medic a thanks for talking the massive bot down before he'd crushed the hunter's spark.

He'd had to toss the femme to get loose, leaving Prime to make the split-second decision of saving her life or ending his. He still ended up being flung into the far wall, but that was a small price to pay for his freedom. He'd gone through one of the most excruciating transformations to get back into his vehicle form before tearing out of the warehouse as if the very fires of the Pit were after his aft. In a manner of speaking they probably were, as his spark was long since damned to suffer eternally for his many transgressions. _Never regret_, he always told himself. _Never regret and keep surviving_. He had been forced to retreat – a hit to his pride, but better that than having his spark extinguished when Prime realized the real reason the Saleen tossed his intended victim. No way was he sticking around there with thirty plus feet of pissed-off mech…hence the tossed squishy and his abrupt retreat.

"_**You are…such a…coward." **_

The words rang in his head, refusing to let him be. A coward. Of all things, a _coward_. He was no coward. He was one of the best hunters in the Decepticon army. He'd never refused a challenge, never backed down from a fight. He was smart; he knew how to pick his battles. There were times when he'd had to ignore a direct challenge to his person – mainly when it was coming from someone he had no wish to fight or that he knew would hand him his aft. In those times he pretended he didn't hear them, – thus he wouldn't have to taint his name by refusing the challenge. There had been many that wanted to fight him, to prove that they were the stronger or the better strategist, but ultimately those ended with either his challenger's extinguished spark or someone stepping in. No, he was never a coward. Even with darkness clouding his vision, he still knew no fear. If he was going to die, it would be with his pride intact.

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The reports had been coming in since Mission City. A police vehicle with LAPD markings, had been seen in various places across California. The sightings ranged from the outlying town of Tranquility, all the way up to San Francisco –usually in a steady pattern of patrol. It was strange for a lone squad car to travel that far out of its jurisdiction, especially when there didn't seem to be anyone for them to chase. It stunk of a stolen vehicle, but for now she kept her opinion to herself.

The case had been presented to her two weeks ago, when the Saleen Mustang in question had been seen in the vicinity of Tranquility for the fourth time in the course of three days. At first she had resented being given the rather mundane case, but figured it would be a good chance to visit her old hometown while closing a case that had been ongoing for several months now. Plus it would be a welcome change from the horror she'd been dredging through since April. The very thought made her sick to her stomach. She shook her head, clearing the lingering thoughts of her last case from her mind and focusing back on the task at hand.

This was how she managed to be going down this little off road just out of Tranquility, and she was glad she was. The black and white came tearing out from the direction of the town, looking like it had been through a war zone. As soon as she saw it, and the fact that the driver was not in sight, she stuck the red light she kept in the cab on top of the car and turned it on. She hadn't had the luxury of regular lights and sirens since she'd been promoted to a plain-clothes cop over a year ago – something she often cursed when things like this happened. It wasn't like she couldn't use one of the squad cars if she really wanted to; it was just that she liked being inconspicuous when in pursuit.

With the light going she immediately increased her speed, thankful that this was one of the lesser-used roads coming out of Tranquility. The traffic, as little as it was, split before her as she kept picking up speed. Even without a siren the red light got the message across. She was glad for this too, especially when the black and white ahead of her started weaving on the road. He was either hurt really bad or he was drunk, either of which could spell disaster to the civilians traveling this road with them.

"Come on, buddy…get off the road," she murmured as she shifted gears and got right up on the tail of the Saleen. The closer she got to the trashed car, the worse the feeling in the pit of her stomach got. Whoever was in that squad car was hurt badly, if the condition of his vehicle was anything to go by. She was surprised he was even still able to get that thing moving. Looked ready to fall apart, for sure.

His lights were gone, and only the vague, warped blaring sound she heard every few minutes told her that his siren was still working. The rear guard was trashed, and the rear fenders not much better off. It made her wince just looking at him. If this was any indication of the extent of damage to the car, then was there even going to be a living person in the vehicle when this chase was over? There were a few things that could have caused this, and the distinct stages of damage said that it had gone on just recently. It was hard to determine just how bad things were just from looking at a severely trashed squad car, and she was determined to pull him over and call it in.

It took two calls to Tranquility PD, an hour and a half, and much weaving through stopped traffic before the black and white finally went off the road, tipping almost sideways in a ditch right off the shoulder. A low sigh of relief echoed through the car, and she patted the dash lightly. Her car was an older model Ford – definitely _not_ meant for such long distance chases like this. It still baffled her that she was on this case in the first place. A stolen vehicle and high-speed chases weren't exactly in her job description any longer. Well, it was a welcome relief to the harsher cases she'd been on recently. With another sigh she pulled over onto the shoulder and got out, tossing the tan trench coat she'd worn into the front seat then leaning over to call it in to the locals.

Halfway down the steep incline into the ditch she was glad she'd called it in as an officer down. Even without confirmation on that fact, something told her that she would be dealing with a police officer, even if it was an AWOL one. Besides, help tended to arrive faster when local cops thought that it was one of their own involved. Cops everywhere were like that, flocking to see what they could do when one of their own was the one calling for help. The car was fully trashed – the hood gone, the front rim and guards dented and forced nearly off the frame. One door was only just on its hinges, and she could see mud seeping into the interior from the missing door on the passenger's side.

It was one of the most bizarre things she'd seen in her entire career. Faith Norton was used to odd sightings in and around the city of Tranquility, especially since the incident at Mission City. There had been several requests for police backup on that day, and she'd been one of the many cops trying to get terrified civilians out of the city while hell rained down from all over. The government had tried to keep it under wraps, bribing people into silence and removing all images and audios recorded during whatever had gone down there. The media never got wind of it – were in fact fed this load of crap about terrorists and bombs.

Still, this counted as the oddest thing she'd seen. The big Ford was completely devoid of any sort of driver, but the steering wheel was still moving frantically as if someone _was_ driving the trashed car. She allowed herself to slide until her hand came into contact with the side of the car, drawing back sharply when she felt it literally cringe at the touch. Weirder still was the faintly glowing thing sitting in a slight nook next to the exposed engine block. Whatever it was didn't look like it belonged there, and she didn't even know the first thing about cars.

Faith inched her way around the vehicle, ignoring the violent cringing from the thing as she used it to start climbing up the other side of the ditch in search of a driver. Of course, due to the mud and the slightly sinking Saleen, she slid back down after only getting halfway back out. She swore she heard a faint grunting sound when her feet connected again with the top of the cab, but chalked it up to her imagination. Then of course that self same mud caused her to loose her footing and she went sliding clean off, bouncing hard off the nose of the car before ending up sprawled a few feet in front of it.

"Ow! Oh yeah…_that_ was graceful. Nice one Faith." She told herself, wincing as she stood up and looked around again. There was no sign of the officer this car belonged to, and she was starting to worry that he'd been thrown from the vehicle when it had slid down into the ditch.

_**Help…help me….**_

The sound of a masculine voice ground out, the sound coming from out of nowhere. It made Faith jump, her gun out of its holster in an instant. It took her putting her back against the Saleen and making a scan of the area before her mind registered what she was hearing. Someone was asking for help. Quickly holstering the gun she stepped forward, keeping the black and white at her back just in case.

"Hello?"

_**Such….odd timing….You will…do…for now.**_

Brown eyes rolled, sarcasm flooding into her voice. "That's a nice way to say thank you to the one saving your stupid ass."

_**Not…stupid…hurting…not safe.**_

Faith winced, realizing from the fading in his voice that this guy didn't have a lot of time left. She needed to get to him now, and worry about his lack of manners later. She wasn't sure what he meant when he'd said he wasn't safe, but she'd worry about that later too. Besides, she had her gun in case someone came up that wasn't friendly.

"Where are you? I can help you, but only if I know where you are." She coaxed, again sweeping the area with her gaze in search of the source of the weakening voice. "Come on, fella, you need to get to a doctor. I've called for an ambulance; just tell me where you landed. Don't try and move, I'll come to you."

_**Can't believe…I have to….do this….**_

She snorted again. "Do what? Be rescued? Or is it because I'm a woman?" She knew enough about bad injuries to know that the longer she kept him conscious, kept him talking, the better his chances would be. Even if he _was_ starting to really piss her off with his chauvinist crap.

A low chuckle sounded, followed by a loud snort. He wasn't speaking again, but she could tell that he was close by. Had to be, for his voice to be that clear with how much blood he had to have lost by now. That car was too torn up for him to be unscathed.

Before she could start calling for him again the strangest thing happened. The strange glowing thing from earlier sat hovering in front of her, its pulse weaker than the last time she'd lain eyes on it. It was vaguely orbital in shape, and had a bluish tint to it that she hadn't noticed before. It was only about the size of a basketball now, well below the beach ball size it had been only a few minutes before. Whatever it was, it was going out. What was worse, it had the same voice as the police officer she was searching for.

_**No…time…have to…do something. I…refuse…to die…like this.**_

Faith's eyes were wide in her head and she started backing away from the orb. Something told her she did not want that thing to touch her – that it would be really bad if it did. So she backed away, putting her back to the side of the ditch and getting as far away from the Saleen and the weird orb as humanly possible. If she'd been sure of her footing she'd have climbed back out the ditch and gotten back in her car.

"Don't come any closer. I'm armed." she warned, drawing her gun once more and pointing it at the orb. She wasn't sure it would have any effect on that thing, but it was better than nothing.

_**Ah now…why are you afraid? Didn't you…say that you'd help me? **_the voice coaxed, sounding both stronger and weaker at the same time. The erratic sparking and pulsing the orb was doing couldn't be good, but the strength and surety in his tone told her something else. He might have been dying, whatever he was, but he wasn't going to go without one hell of a fight.

The orb came towards her again, this time slowly, and he was letting off soft strings of a language that she couldn't understand. It sounded vaguely like he was talking to a frightened child, or a wild animal. Neither analogy made her feel any better. After about a minute however, desperation started tinting his tone and she knew that his time was growing short. The unknown words came out more rapidly, beginning to take on a frantic, almost angry tone; the orb sparked even more violently as they did so.

_**Tried to…make you understand…stupid, horrible luck…no choice…now.**_

Everything after that was sort of a blur, as things happened too quickly for her to react. She knew the orb had shot forward and made contact with her body, sending her flying forcefully from the ditch to hit hard against the side of her car. The world swam in streams of light and dark, colors swirling together and combining with the light and dark to chase her into unconsciousness.

One last thing held onto her as she drifted deeper into the world created by her mind as it shut down. Barricade. His name was Barricade.

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Yep, a new story.  
Don't worry, I'm still working on AiSA.  
As always please read and review.  
All reviews are appreciated.


	2. Unanswered Questions

**To Protect and Serve**

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers or any of its affiliated characters. Only Faith and Nicole are mine. The rest belong to people with a lot more money and creativity than I've got.

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Chapter One: Unanswered Questions

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"_The Knights number as a dozen, half on each side. One from each side always rides the line between the two factions. In the far-gone days of Cybertron, before war had ravished the world and broken them apart, the Knights were the strongest defense Cybertron had. They protected their people and the Allspark from all outside forces. The day Megatron broke their laws was the day the Knights of Cybertron ceased to exist."_

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He hurt. Oh, how he hurt… but it was a different sort of hurt. It was the kind of hurt that came more from inactivity than from actual injury. More sore than real pain.

This was the thought that brought him back online – the thing that helped him fight clear of the darkness that had settled into his processors. His systems started coming back online, one right after the other, and he ran internal diagnostics on each and every one as they came back up. Aside from needing a more decent recharge and possibly a little fuel, he was fully functional. With that finished he turned his sensors outward, checking his surroundings.

He was parked in an unfamiliar place with absolutely no idea as to how he'd gotten there. Several consoles flashed various pieces of information at him from across the room, but everything was almost eerily silent. There were only two fleshlings in the room, and they both seemed to be more interested in what was on the screens than on the stirring hunter in their midst. Good for him and lucky for them, since he wanted out of there more than he wanted to squish the whole lot of them.

Something felt just a little off, but he wasn't sure what it was. Making a quick check of his person gave him his answer. His doors were open, and several wires were trailing out from his front seat into the consoles the squishies were sitting at. It made him cringe to realize that they had actually had the nerve to touch him while he'd been healing. It didn't matter that they thought he was one of their police vehicles. He was seriously going to need a thorough wash after this was over. He hated smelling like organics, especially organics of the human variety. Stinky, disgusting creatures, the whole lot of them.

'_**What. The. Frag,**__' _he hissed in his mind, forcing his initial reaction to the situation down so that he could get the heck out of there without drawing attention of the Autobot variety. As far as they were concerned, he was dead – and he planned to continue letting them believe that.

After checking himself from nose to tail several times and concluding that he was devoid of all his previous injuries, Barricade started his engine, refraining from revving it in favor of making a quiet escape. He used a very quick push with his holoform to get the wires clear of his person before shutting the doors and getting out of there as fast as he could. He heard the humans come up to chase him for a few feet down the road, but they soon gave up as he quickly picked up speed.

"Free at last," he said to himself, feeling many of the tensions across his body ease at finally being back on the open road. He wasn't positive as to his location, but a quick glance to his GPS would tell him that. The hunter didn't care all that much at this point, so long as he was far away from the Autobots and their squishy companions.

Curiosity did eventually catch up to him, but it was several hours later. Finally giving into it, he checked his tracking system, surprised to discover that they hadn't moved him out of Tranquility yet. He was sure they would have, after he had changed his tags to put him on the radar for the LAPD. It had been necessary to do so, after discovering that he was the only Decepticon left on the planet. He'd changed a few minor details on his vehicle form as well, though he'd left the warped logo right where he had it. His Decepticon decal he had moved to the steering wheel. It was how he'd dropped out of sight for the last six months.

The decision to find and destroy the Madsen woman had come after he'd found out she had some sensitive information that her kind definitely didn't need to be in possession of. He didn't know exactly what it was, but if Frenzy had been given keeping of it, then it was important. His spastic partner was good at what he did, and quadruple coding whatever information he'd been given had been an easy task. Besides, killing her meant one less organic for him to deal with on this planet.

He shook himself loose of his thoughts, focusing back on the task at hand. He needed to get out of Tranquility for a while… let things cool off from his recent attack. Let them think he was dead, and that the threat was past them. He'd go back when their guard was down, and he'd make sure his plan went through. Perhaps a change in tactics was in order. Three of the four squishies were under direct protection of the Autobots, but the fourth….

The Witwicky boy had the annoying scout Bumblebee to protect him, a fact that he'd learned first hand when the youngling had managed to overpower him in their initial encounter. Of course, he'd done what he'd really wanted to do; planted Frenzy with the humans to see if they would lead him to the Cube, and thus, possibly, to Megatron.

Maggie Madsen, the older squishy, was under the direct protection of Optimus Prime himself. It was a fact he wished he'd known before taking on his mission. He would have planned better. If there was one thing he knew about Autobots, it was this: if they had a charge, you got them away from said charge before engaging them. Otherwise said Autobot would be more likely to hand a mech his aft. He'd learned that lesson the hard way as well.

The Lennox fleshling he wouldn't touch with less than a full arsenal behind him. Ironhide was one mech he did _**not**_ want to tangle with. The weapons specialist was the best they had, and as much as he hated to admit it, Ironhide was the better fighter between the two of them. He was certainly better armed. If the black mech was anything like his other companions were when it came to their charges, he'd be slag well before he got anywhere near the human soldier. It wasn't worth the risk to even try.

The dark-haired femme that seemed to frequent the company of the Autobots didn't have a guardian that he'd been able to discover. She was possibly on a friendly level with Bumblebee and Ratchet, but none of them had claimed her for charge as of yet. So the next time he faced them, he'd just have to make sure she was the one he dealt with. Get one of their little squishy pets and they'd do anything to get them back… even hand over a potential weapon against their enemies.

It was around this time that he realized just how strange his situation was. At first, he hadn't thought past getting away from the humans without announcing himself to his enemies. Then he'd become distracted with thoughts of revenge for his humiliating defeat. With those thoughts well past him, he could finally concentrate on the facts. He'd been close to permanent deactivation, the warnings coming from his systems almost constantly. His spark had been compromised; several of the crucial energon lines connecting to the casing were severed beyond repair. The damage had been extensive in both of his forms, but now he was without even the slightest dent to his armor.

If there was one thing he hated, it was not knowing how or why something happened. No way had he repaired that much damage – not on his own. If the Autobot medic had found him, he'd be locked up in their med bay by now, so that wasn't the answer either. If the Decepticons' own medic had made landfall he wouldn't have woken up in that garage, so that was out too. He owed someone a life debt… something he couldn't ignore.

He was one of the few who still went by that old code of honor. Unbelievable as it was, he had a set code that he lived by. Sure, it wasn't exactly what most people would consider as _honor_, but it was his all the same. So now he had to find out what had happened to him after he'd lost consciousness. He knew he could, technically, just let it go, since he didn't know who had saved his sorry aft… but something was screaming at him that it was important that he know. He'd never ignored his instincts before, and he wasn't about to start now.

In this case, he would be putting his tracking skills to the test. An unusual change of pace for him – that was certain. It was better than haunting the edges of Tranquility until boredom drove him offline. He sighed and started tracing his path from the warehouse back to where he remembered offlining. From there, he would follow whatever trail was left and discover exactly what had happened while he'd been out, who had seen him, and where they'd gone. Someone was bound to remember seeing the police interceptor on the road that day, and, perhaps, one of them could answer the question that he needed to be answered.

Something lingered at the edge of his mind… some wisp of memory that he couldn't completely get a hold of. He knew it was important, but the harder he tried to bring it into focus, the more it slipped away. That pissed him off more than anything else, aside from the horrifying thought that he may just owe his life to some human. If that was the case, he'd just spare the fraggin' squishy's life when the time came to exterminate the people of this planet. Maybe convince whoever became the new leader of the Decepticons to keep it as a pet. That would meet the requirements of the debt, and he wouldn't have to directly interact with the disgusting creature.

He sighed again. This was one mystery he didn't actually want answered, but the strong feeling that it was important kept him on task. Curiosity wasn't a bad thing in most mechs, but in him, it was never a good thing. He was as relentless in figuring things out as he was when he was in battle. He never stopped until he knew the truth… knew the answer to whatever question had plagued his processors.

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Phew, that was hard.

Keeping Barricade in character this whole chapter was a challenge, and one that I hope I succeeded in.

Please read and review.


	3. What Happened in Tranquility?

**To Protect and Serve**

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers or any of its affiliated characters. Only Faith and Nicole are mine. The rest belong to people with a lot more money and creativity than I've got.

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Chapter Two: What happened in Tranquility?

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Light. Blinding, piercing light. It filtered through her eyelids and caused her head to pound with white hot agony. It was everywhere, coming from all around her unmercifully. And there were voices, people calling her name, speaking to her in a language she didn't understand. She hurt all over, things pulling at her arms and people pushing at her body. She hated it, hated feeling confined, contained. She knew she had to be fighting them for them to be holding onto her still, but couldn't remember why they'd have to do that.

She knew she was screaming, knew that something had to be wrong. Words were coming out of her mouth, but they weren't hers. They were violent, hostile, coming out at a harsh clip with a cadence of speech that wasn't her own. Every instinct she had was telling her to fight, to break free and escape those that were holding her down. It didn't make any sense. What was going on?

Something cold touched her heated skin and she hissed loudly, managing to rock her body over hard enough to send the person that had touched her flying clear over her head. It didn't take long for her to realize that the cold had been a needle and that the person that had used it on her had just sedated her. Her mind started clearing almost immediately, even as she sunk back towards sleep once again.

She fought off the calming relief of sleep frantically, trying to figure out was happening to her. All she could see was the lights and the people, but the vague sound of a siren below her told her that she was possibly at the hospital. Brown eyes blinked slowly then stared up at the doctors and nurses that were gathered around her bedside. A few of the people were even cops that she knew, and they looked like someone had just died.

A dark haired cop approached her first, his grey eyes carefully blank as he spoke to her in a controlled tone. It was as if he was afraid she wouldn't understand him. "Faith? You in there?"

She nodded her head. The man was Ronny Corday, one of her closest of friends. He was all long legs and broad shoulders, with absolutely no weight in between to balance him out. He was also one of the fastest runners the LAPD had. They'd gone through high school together, had even decided to go through police training together. She'd even introduced him to his wife, Annie. So why, with all this being said, was he looking at her as if she was one of the bad guys?

"Ronny…" She coughed hard, her head beginning to spin. The sedative was finally taking full effect and she knew she'd be asleep again before too much longer. She had to know what had gone down before that happened. "What's…why…"

Several people let out low sounds of relief, the extra personnel leaving the room almost immediately until only her doctor, Ronny, and two other cops remained. Apparently she'd been giving these people a hard time. Faith looked pleadingly at Ronny, hoping he'd tell her what was going on. Instead he took a seat next to her, taking the hand that wasn't taped to an IV line between both of his larger ones.

"Get some sleep darlin'. Annie will be here soon, she and I will be here to make sure nobody bothers you. When you wake up again I'll get the coats to tell you everything, I promise." He told her, squeezing her hand to encourage her to do just that. He made her smile, and she knew she was safe while he was there. Ronny got on her nerves sometimes, but there were few others she trusted with her life like she did him. His wife was a federal marshal, so if he said they'd keep people from bothering her, then that was exactly what they'd do.

Faith gave him a weak smile and settled down to sleep. Bad cowboy accent aside, Ronny was a good man and the best friend she'd ever had. She'd need all the rest she could get for this. Something told her the shit was about to hit the fan, and all of it led back to that trashed Saleen on the outskirts of Tranquility.

* * *

She knew time had passed, knew that she must have been asleep longer than a few hours. The watch outside had changed, the voices were different now. Ronny had to have gone home by now, because she couldn't feel him holding her hand anymore. If he were just asleep on the little chair the room held then she'd hear him snoring, but it was eerily quiet in the hospital room. She had the room to herself, a small luxury she was thankful for. Something felt out of place, but she didn't know quite what it was.

Brown eyes finally came open, and for a moment she just looked around the room. The curtains were drawn to keep out the sunlight, but the position of it said that it was either early morning or late afternoon. It depended on what side of the building her room faced. Faith tried to sit up, only to discover that she was strapped down at her wrists and ankles.

Panic struck her hard, knotting her stomach and fueling her body with adrenaline. Why would the hospital have strapped her down like this? The answer was; they wouldn't. She was a cop, even if she had been fighting them off tooth and nail earlier. Delirium would do that, and she figured that was exactly what had been wrong with her. So then, if she wasn't still at the hospital, then where was she exactly?

_**Get free, get free! Fight them! Fight back, don't stay there! Get loose, get out of there, find a safe place to go.**_

The frantic words were not her own, and they were tinged with a sort of blind rage that said that the person they belonged to had been forced into confinement before and hadn't liked it. That same haze she'd woken up with started seeping into her mind once again, making her pull hard at the straps. She could feel the strength of the mind that overpowered hers, could tell that it was older than she could fathom. That rage finally manifested in her on its own, causing her to fight with everything she had against the thing that had taken over her body.

_**What are you doing?! Move! Get the hell out of there!**_

Faith was as stubborn a person as they came. She dug in mentally, pushing back at the haze that was trying to take her over again. The harder she fought, the more freaked out this other presence seemed to become. It was almost as if it were reliving something through her, like it thought….

'_Who are you?' _She thought at the voice, even though it made her feel as if she was going crazy to be talking to the voice in her head.

_**Who? You…you aren't…. **_He made a loud hissing sound that echoed through her body, causing a harsh pounding to start up in her head. _**Ah hell. I'm dreaming. Stupid, real stupid. I feel like such an idiot.**_

'_A dream?'_

_**Has to be. Not my time, not my body. It's the only way I'd be speaking to someone that wasn't a manifestation of myself in another frame of time, at another age. **_

He chuckled, the sound seeming to vibrate through the room with barely concealed relief and strained humor**. **

_**I'd like to know what the frag I ate that's doing this to me. Thought I'd never have anything to deal with but my own memories on warped repeat for the rest of my existence.**_

Faith rolled her eyes and started easing back against the hospital bed she'd been strapped to. Now that she wasn't ignoring what hurt she realized that her wrists and ankles were now likely bruised because of the force she used to try and get free. Her head was hurting her, as was her shoulder and chest. If he'd been in control earlier, and she realized now that the voice did indeed belong to a male, then perhaps she'd earned the straps holding her to the bed.

'_Well you certainly got me in a lot of trouble, buddy. My friends probably think I've lost my mind.'_

_**And just what the slag is that supposed to mean? **_He asked, beginning to sound more than a little irate.

It was almost as if he were standing in the room with her having a normal conversation. His voice sounded that close. Of course, it was in her head so that could be the reason. So either she'd gone completely crazy or something really weird was going on here. She decided to just ignore him for the time being and see if it helped.

She managed total silence for all of twenty minutes before the harsh male voice came back again, and he sounded on the verge of fury.

_**I asked you a question, you pit-spawned fragger! **_He hissed, the anger radiating from his voice making her head hurt all the more.

The young officer bit her lip hard and obstinately ignored him for awhile longer, even though she could feel his mind pushing at hers with enough force to let her know that he wanted her attention. She fought against that strong push for the longest time, literally feeling him becoming more furious with each passing second until finally he just exploded.

_**Don't you dare ignore me you insolent, pit-spawned, aft-headed son of a glitch! I will not tolerate it a moment more! Answer me!**_

Faith finally decided that this voice in her head wasn't going to go away and did the next best thing she could; she let her smart ass out to play.

'_Actually, I'm a female.'_

A long, violent string of curses followed her words, most of the words in a language she didn't understand and was pretty sure she didn't want to understand. She got the general gist of most of them, and winced after a particularly colorful curse got shot off at her. When he finally stopped she remained quiet for a moment then cracked up.

_**Its. Not. Funny**_. The voice bit out, though she could hear the bare strain of amusement beginning to leak into his tone.

'_Phew, fella. That had to be one of the most colorful tirades I've heard since I flipped the President the bird during that televised ceremony he gave the officers that turned out for Mission City. My boss pitched a fit too. Used every curse in the book, and a few that I'm not sure are in the book.'_

He snorted loudly again, and she got the mental impression of someone rolling their eyes at her. So maybe she wasn't going crazy. This person had too much personality to be all a figment of her imagination, at least she thought so. If he were just in her head he'd at least be a little less snarky. That meant she was somehow talking to another person using some form of telepathy.

"Feh, right out of a sci-fi novel. Local cop gets into some trouble and ends up talking with newly discovered mental powers. What a load of bull." She told herself, easing more against the bed again and looking around. "Now just where am I?"

_**And now we're back to the reason I'm speaking with you in the first place. Just where are you anyway? For that matter, what comm frequency did you use to hack through into my subconscious? Given my firewalls and various other shields this connection shouldn't be possible.**_

"If I knew the answer to that I wouldn't still be here." She shifted again, trying to see if she could slip the restraints and find out what the heck was going on. "You said you were dreaming, meaning your asleep right?"

_**I am in recharge, yes. It's the reason I'm finding this entire situation so hard to deal with. You should not be doing this, and I certainly shouldn't be dreaming of whatever situation you've gotten yourself stuck in.**_

"Gotten myself…" She trailed off and made a loud sound of frustration despite the pain it shot through her head. "I'm not the one that panicked at being strapped down to the freakin' bed!"

_**Quiet! Do you want them to come in and sedate you or something? Stupid femme! **_He hissed, his mental voice holding a strong undertone that pushed at her psyche with a force that demanded compliance to his will.

Faith clamped her mouth shut, positively fuming. _'You know what, screw you!' _She shot back at him, this time imagining herself shoving at the person that was grating her nerves so badly.

A loud grunt followed her mental gesture, making her realize that he'd somehow felt the shove she'd given him. The next time he spoke to her it was in voice that had dropped a full octave under the force of his returning fury. A growl rolled behind his tone, making her shiver.

_**Don't ever do that again. The only reason I don't kill you for that is that I don't know exactly where you are. Nor do I particularly care. Your commanding officer may have tolerated your attitude, but I will not.**_

Only the menace in his voice kept her from responding sarcastically to his threat. Instead she dug her hands into the sides of the bed she was stuck on and silently vented her growing frustration. After nearly five minutes of being silently pissed off Faith managed to get herself back under control. Fury could come later, for now she needed to get loose and get the hell out of there.

Voice in her head aside, she was still a cop and hadn't done anything to earn herself the restraints. Of course, if he'd come out while she'd been unconscious that would definitely explain things. This guy did not like being restrained, and seemed willing to do whatever it took to remove himself from such a situation. She couldn't blame him really. She didn't like being strapped down like this either, but she knew there was probably a good explanation for the restraints she was in now. An explanation that she bet had to do with the cantankerous man she'd been bantering with. The only way to figure out if he had done this was to talk to him again, as much as she hated it.

'_You said you thought you were dreaming before I said anything to you.' _She stopped there, trying to put her next thoughts into a coherent question before she continued_. 'Before I started fighting back had you been dealing with my confinement for long?'_

The pause was long enough that she knew he'd considered not answering her question, but she could still feel his mind within hers and knew that he was too curious about this entire situation not to.

_**I….an hour, maybe more. The last time there was a fleshling in the room as well. He, along with nearly a dozen others held onto every part of me…'**_

He paused to correct himself quickly before finishing, _**'…you that they could until the medic arrived and sedated you again. I awoke again around the time you noticed the restraints.**_

'_Meaning that you actually had control of me for that entire duration of time. When I woke up the first time they were fighting to keep me down. That was probably what you experienced before as well. It seems like we're somehow sharing the same experiences, though its bothering you on a level that has you fighting tooth and nail to get loose. I hate hospitals myself, but I know better than to fight against the nurses.'_

_**Control of…well that would explain a few things. I am very deeply in my recharge cycle, and somehow you latched onto my consciousness and forced my mind into yours. My natural reaction was to escape when I didn't know where I was. There is nothing wrong with that, it's a smart survival tactic that you seem to be lacking. **_

'_Fuck you. My survival instincts are just fine. I just don't panic that badly over waking up in a hospital. I've woken up here enough times in the past to be used to it. Comes with the job.'_

_**You say you are a femme, and yet you are repeatedly exposed to danger that has you damaged enough to see a medic. So then, little one, what exactly do you do with yourself that is so dangerous?**_

As he asked the question his mind poked hers a few times in curiosity. He was obviously a very inquisitive creature by nature, and apparently she'd just told him something that did not fit in with whatever perception she'd already established in his mind.

Faith took a few moments to figure out what he was saying to her, translating it quickly into normal terms before she answered him.

'_I'm an officer. I put my life on the line every day to make sure the people in this city can sleep safely at night.' _

She snorted, feeling the other presence in her mind startle a little from the abrupt sound.

'_That sounded so corny. I haven't been on a regular patrol in nearly a year now. Mostly I've been working to bring in the ones that make being single and female a bad thing.'_

_**What in Primus' name are you…Oh…OH! I understand. You deal justice to those that do not understand what it means to be refused by someone. Such an offense is punishable by death in our ranks. Yours too, if I'm not mistaken.**_

This was starting to get really weird again. Who the heck was he talking about? He used the name Primus like others would use god, he spoke in a way that screamed foreign to her, and the terminology he was using was vaguely mechanical in nature. He was acting as if she were what he was, and she was beginning to get the distinct impression that he wasn't human at all. No, something else entirely. Something like…

"Like before…" She said softly as her focus began to drift, her mind pulling up memories of what had happened to her when she'd pulled over a trashed LAPD cruiser on the outskirts of Tranquility.

* * *

Yep, that's it.

Sorry to stop it right there, please don't kill me.

As always, please read and review.


	4. In Your Head

**To Protect and Serve**

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers or any of its affiliated characters. Only Faith and Nicole are mine. The rest belong to people with a lot more money and creativity than I've got.

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Chapter Three: In your head…

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_A bluish orb of light sat floating just in front of her, its size diminished from the first time she'd seen it. She was aiming her gun at it in defense, demanding that the voice issuing from the orb should not move it any closer. Fear had run through her body in a punishing wave, prompting her 'fight or flight' response. Yet she'd just stood there, unable to move, but desperately wanting to._

_A man's voice speaking to her in a language she couldn't understand, pleading with her. Demanding then, still in that unknown language. It had sounded like mechanical clicks and whirrs to her, but obviously meant something to him. The sparking and pulsing of the orb as it weaved its way towards her._

_Pain then – pain and a flash of light. Feeling herself be sent flying through the air and the dull thud as she hit the side of her car. Then nothing, but there was something…_

____________________________________________________

_**WAKE UP! **_

His voice all but snarled the words at her, shocking her back to herself and into an upright position. There were people in the room, doctors and cops alike. Several uniformed officers were slumped against the wall unconscious, and she had no idea how they'd gotten that way. She did realize that she was no longer strapped down. Or, more specifically, that something had snapped the thick leather bonds with a force far greater than she could accomplish herself. That in itself should have told her something was wrong, but another feeling had superimposed itself over her conscious mind.

Hands were holding her down again, but now she was fighting back with a strength not her own. Everything kept getting foggy, with people and places blurring in and out of reality. Something was wrong, really wrong. It was the same as the last time she'd woken up. She wasn't in control of herself. No, _he_ was in control, and panic had asserted itself again. Her head started spinning again, blackness clawing at the edge of her vision until she was certain she'd pass out again.

_**Don't you dare! Stay awake! You have to move!**_

'_Can't…what's going on?' _she asked of the voice in her head, feeling steadily more dizzy the longer she sat up. She lost time again with that, coming back again with her feet under her.

_**Stop that! Your weaving in and out like that is going to…**_

Suddenly his voice was drowned out by a different image appearing in front of her eyes. She was back in a squad car, in the direct path of an oncoming eighteen-wheeler. Her normal calm abandoned her and instinct took over. She could remember screaming as she jerked hard on the steering wheel to get out of the way, remembered sliding clear off the shoulder and into the woods to either side of the road with the momentum of the car. What she couldn't remember was being thrown from the car, but she had to have been.

Her hand connected briefly with the ground, pushing off hard to try and get upright again. Her body moved in a way that she wasn't sure it was supposed to, instinctively knowing how to move and what to do in order to regain her feet and get her bearings. Once she was upright again Faith looked around, realizing that she'd been thrown further from the car than she'd originally thought. There were thick trees all around her, and she couldn't even see the road from where she was.

It didn't take long for her to realize that something wasn't right. Her line of sight had been altered greatly, the trees around her no longer dwarfing her with their sheer size. She gave her surroundings a quick look, noticing that she was eye level with a tree branch that should have been well over her head. Instead, it was right _next_ to her head. Some of these trees had to be decades old, maybe more. That meant that they were all well over her 5'7 height. That the smallest of them came up to her chin, meaning that she had to be taller than that.

A strong sense of vertigo assailed her, forcing her to lean against one of the larger trees to remain upright. Her feet still gave out, sending her to her knees on the forest floor. Faith ended up having to rest her head against the tree, breathing in and out evenly until her equilibrium reasserted itself. Still leaning heavily against the tree, the young officer got to her feet, using the tree and its branches to help keep her balance. Vertigo washed through her again once she was back on her feet, but it didn't knock her off her feet this time. Once it had passed she straightened, determined to figure out what was going on.

At that point her vision started dimming, everything around her losing its focus once again. She blindly reached out to grab onto a tree branch, hoping to ground herself to consciousness. Instead it seemed to help strengthen whatever was making her vision dim. Her body didn't seem to be moving entirely under her control, the motions more precise and direct than what she was used to. Another mind started pushing hers back, the silent demand there startling her and forcing her to realize something.

'_**Not my time, not my body.'**_

His words from before echoed in her head. This wasn't her body, and she definitely couldn't have gotten wherever she was from the hospital in Los Angeles she'd been in. Not in the blink of time it had taken to get from one place to the other. It meant, unfortunately, that she was sitting in the body of the man she'd been talking to for the last few minutes. With this in mind she ceased fighting the returned presence in her mind, allowing him to push her out of his body and successfully back into hers.

The world seemed to blur around her again, her vision coming back into focus to the sight of the white walls of the hospital. She was still in Los Angeles – still somewhere in the bowels of the hospital. Raised voices coming down the hall startled her back into motion, prompting her forward once more. She still needed to find out what the reason was for her confinement; still wanted to know why they'd treated her like some psychopath instead of the respected police detective that she actually was.

The cold tiles beneath her feet were little distraction while she was so focused on her goal. It was what had made her a good cop. She could focus on her goal and ignore everything else, including personal discomfort or injury. It was one of the reasons she kept ending up in the hospital. Faith let out a soft sound of triumph when she finally found one of the officers she worked with. He looked like he'd gotten into a fight with someone twice his size, with all the bruises and cuts that marred his features. Still, that was no deterrent to approaching him.

"Riley, what the heck is going on here?"

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Yep, that's it.  
Sorry for the shortness, but I promise to have another chapter out by monday.  
As always, please read and review.


	5. Out of my Mind

**To Protect and Serve**

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers or any of its affiliated characters. Only Faith and Nicole are mine. The rest belong to people with a lot more money and creativity than I've got. Thanks goes out to my wonderful beta , whose stories and comments have inspired me to continue writing in the Transformers universe.

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Chapter Four: Out of my mind

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(Barricade)

This was definitely not what he wanted to be doing while he was stuck on this misbegotten planet. Hearing voices in his head was nothing new – not since it had become mandatory among his fellows to keep an open comm. between them unless in battle or recharge. So it hadn't been such a surprise at first that he was speaking with someone else. The surprise had come once he'd figured out that it wasn't someone he knew… wasn't even a Decepticon. Oh no, it had been someone much worse. Of course, he was getting ahead of himself.

It hadn't seemed like such a bad idea at the time, going into recharge while he tried to track down the one that had essentially saved his sorry aft. For a while, at least, everything had been normal. Then something had disturbed his cycle, thrusting him forcefully into a nightmare of epic proportions.

One of the things that bothered him the most in life was being restrained. To be unable to move under his own power was a startlingly frightening thing, especially for someone who thrived on freedom. He may have been confined to the ground, but there was little that could taper his spirit. His speed was his most highly prized asset; always had been. So being tied down and forced to remain still was the worst kind of torture to him.

He had been thrust into a brightly lit room, everything swimming around him in incoherent shapes and colors. Muted voices around him had drawn his attention, giving him back the focus he needed. What he'd seen hadn't made any sense at the time. There were fleshlings all around him, some of them in white lab coats. His initial reaction had been that he'd been somehow captured by Sector Seven like his esteemed leader had been, but then he'd noticed that most of the humans were closer to his size. That should have set off the alarm bells right there, but at the time, all he could process was that they'd somehow removed his spark from his body. He knew that technically, his kind could still see and hear and feel without their physical bodies, but he had never thought to have this fact proven for himself.

With a sort of blind panic settling into his processors he'd lashed out, trying everything within his limited power to get away. Thinking back on it now, he did remember that the fleshlings were holding him down physically, a feat that should have been impossible in the spark state. He'd fought them with everything his decidedly smaller form had, throwing several of them across the room with enough force to leave them momentarily dazed. More of them spilled into the room after a few minutes, giving the others enough force to overpower him and pin him flat to the berth he was on.

The room was spinning so badly that he hadn't been sure if he was really in a room with humans or if he was once again in what he termed his own personal version of the Pit. It was why reality had blurred with memory… why he'd thought it was himself at a much younger age. He'd called them all forms of profane names, demanding that they release him, at times violently trying to throw them away from him. His shouting proved to be in vain, since they didn't seem to understand a word he was saying.

After a while, a vague pain in one of his arms had drawn his attention, the cold liquid streaming into his systems – an unknown agent against him. His mind had dropped back almost instantly, forced into a deep recharge state while he was still in dangerous territory. The choice hadn't been his own, and as he'd gone down he thought he felt another mind touch his briefly before pushing towards the surface. What it had been he didn't know, and didn't have the time to investigate as all his systems were forced into recharge.

For a long while, darkness reigned, but then something else drew him back online. Everything was so foggy that he'd had a hard time focusing on any one thing, and he drifted in and out of consciousness several times before his mind grasped on to the one thing that was unacceptable: he was tied down. Thick bonds held him flat, his arms and legs restrained to the point that he couldn't even get into a sitting position. Reality blurred once again, bringing him back to the last time he'd been stuck like this.

____________________________________________________

"You disappoint me, Barricade. Perhaps a little time here will improve your disposition."

His voice had echoed from everywhere and nowhere, as was the design of this place. Lord Megatron did not tolerate failure; he tolerated betrayal even less. Young as he was, he'd done both. For what? For a mech that wanted little to do with him these days… a mech he would still do anything for.

"Forgive me, my lord." He'd been calm about it at first, had thought an apology would get him out of the punishment he was about to endure. On his knees before the High Lord Protector was about as degrading a thing as there was, but it was the best place to be when asking for forgiveness. Of course, he hadn't counted on the older mech's questioning of his previous actions.

"Forgive you?" A dark chuckle rolled through the larger mech, echoing eerily in the confined room. "Insolent youngling, why would I do something like that?" His voice had taken on that honeyed tone it always got when he was at his most ruthless and it sent tremors of fear through the young hunter. He knew he would have to pick his next words carefully.

"Sir, there was little choice. I couldn't simply leave him there, he's…" He paused, dropping his head down against his chest in a distinct sign of shame. It was something he'd kept a secret for more vorn than he cared to remember, and now he was forced to lie to his leader. "He's important to me, or he was. I owed him my life."

A loud snort was the initial response to his words, but then he was answered. "So you saved their best tactician because you owed him a life debt?" The laughter sounded again, dark and menacing in the darkness. "I thought you would be well past that ridiculous sort of honor by now."

"I can't be anything but what I am, my lord."

"And what, pry tell, would that be?" The way he'd said it suggested that he already knew the answer, and that he didn't like it. Despite this the black and white mech forged on ahead. It wasn't smart, after all, to lie to the leader of the Decepticon army.

"A knight of Cybertron."

The response was immediate.

Megatron moved with more speed than he was aware the bulky mech was capable of, slamming his fist into the smaller 'Con's chassis and sending him flying across the small cell. He'd felt several of his internal lines break under the force, but had had little time to dwell on it before he was suspended in the air. By the time he was aware of what was going on he'd been strapped to the wall by his wrists and ankles with restraints that no amount of force on his part could break.

Crimson eyes shot to his lord, silently pleading with him not to leave him like this. He should have known better. The only thing it earned him was a returned look of contempt.

"Let us see how long you hold onto your illusion of _knighthood_, shall we? I think a few days in here will improve your disposition." With those words the last source of light in the confines of the room was removed, leaving a battered young Decepticon to battle with his own thoughts.

____________________________________________________

Panic gripped him hard, forcing him to react in a way that little else could. He would not go back to that dark place; he could not bear to. No, his lord couldn't send him back there again. Megatron knew too well that another trip would cost him his best hunter. Yet here he was, strapped down once more in a manner that could rob him of his sanity. Rage finally made itself known, chasing away the panic just enough to return him to coherent thoughts.

He'd ranted about it, had demanded that this smaller body he inhabited fight until he was free and then to get the hell out of there. Then another presence had started pushing back at his mind, turning his mind into equal parts of rage and panic. His words became frantic the harder this force fought him, the pitch to his voice rising just slightly as time went on. Just before panic completely overwhelmed him again a voice had broken through his hazy mind, enquiring as to his identity.

It was as if a switch had been thrown inside of him, the relief was _that _abrupt. It was just a dream, and not even one of his own. He'd heard that it was possible to slip into another mech's dreams, but hadn't thought it was true. Feeling the much younger mind gently tapping at his own changed his mind on that point. It had taken him a few minutes to fully ease down, but the general sense of panic and rage had almost completely left his systems. It was enough that he even made a joke about it.

He'd gone quiet for some time after that, regaining his composure so that he could figure out just what was going on. That someone who was quite obviously a youngling could draw him into what had to be a waking nightmare… well, it was quite a curiosity. Even more of a curiosity was in the fact that he was in communication with a young, probably Autobot, femme.

Of course said femme chose that moment to make a comment that made him go from calm to irate in the course of a few seconds. Then she'd had the gall to ignore him for a long span of time when he'd demanded she explain herself. Obstinate, frag-headed femme. He'd poked at her mind several times in the interlude, demanding her attention and answer to his question. He'd felt the walls going up in her head, which only served to piss him off all the more. It didn't take long for his fury to explode out of him in a long string of hissed out profanities.

Then, just to spite him, she'd shot off a smart-aft comment dealing with her distinction as a femme. That had been the end of his limited patience – he'd gone off again, this time in rapidly paced Cybertronian. He'd cursed the femme up and down with all the curses and insults he could think of, and the only thing it earned him was her bursting into laughter.

'_It's. Not. Funny.' _He'd bitten out at her, though the feeling of her amusement at the entire situation took most of the bite out of his words.

He had missed part of what she told him in return, only catching the general gist of what she was trying to tell him. He did get that she'd exhibited her particular brand of wise-ass in front of her commanding officer, and Prime himself. He rolled his eyes at that. She was definitely an Autobot, because nobody that had a wish to live smart-mouthed the Lord High Protector.

Barricade had missed most of the next few things she said as well, because she was speaking aloud. He could tell that she was awake while he was in a state of recharge, mostly because of the distinction between speaking on the comm. band she'd somehow gotten onto and speaking aloud. He did catch the last thing she said, though it was very vague. It drew him back onto the conversation at hand. Vexing femme or no, he did want to know how this was all possible.

He managed to speak to her civilly, keeping his tone even and calm as he went through the few questions he'd managed to form in the last few minutes. He asked her where she was first, curious to know just how far away she was. Nothing he knew about this suggested how much distance could be between the ones on a matched comm. frequency before the signal gave out. He asked about the signal as well, being that he was just paranoid enough that this breach of his firewalls was something to be concerned about. So if he could find out what hole she'd gotten in through then he could remedy the problem so that this wouldn't happen again.

"If I knew the answer to that I wouldn't still be here."

He had felt her mind shift as she spoke, making the words come out clear enough that it was like she was right alongside him instead of wherever the frag she actually was. He could also tell the train of her thoughts. She wished to slip her bonds and discover the reason for her confinement. That he could tell this was strange in itself, but it wasn't something he lingered on.

When she asked him if he was in recharge, he had answered her with an affirmative, figuring she was going on some train of thought that could be useful. He also put forth his own train of thought in the hope of getting answers faster. Commenting on the fact that she was stuck in the situation she was in probably wasn't a good idea, given that she shot back so indignantly.

He'd furiously demanded that she be silent, pushing at her with his own force of will to make sure she got the message. Communicating through the comm. was safer, especially given where she was. How stupid could she be, shouting like that out loud? He knew that Autobots were stupid creatures, but this one also seemed to be lacking common sense. That she responded on the line meant that she had complied to his silent demand, even if she was arguing with him again.

He was nearly jolted out of recharge when he felt her psyche forcefully push at his own. He grunted in response, taking a moment to settle back into recharge before issuing a growled threat. She would _not_ do that again – he'd make sure of it. The only thing that saved her from his wrath was the fact that he had no idea where she was. He made sure she knew that too, as well as making sure she knew that he would not tolerate her attitude.

For a long while they were both silent, though he could feel her fury at him boiling through her mind. He ignored it for a time, focusing on getting his own temper reined in enough to deal with this insolent Autobot femme. He was also getting the impression that she was far younger than he was; possibly even younger than the scout, Bumblebee. Meaning that she had to have been crèched some time after the cube left Cybertron – a feat he had been certain was impossible.

Barricade found himself drawn from his musings when the femme he'd been arguing with finally asked another question, her train of thought back on a track that could prove to be useful. She asked him about his time stuck in her mindset, wondering if he knew how long he'd been dealing with believing himself tied down before she'd spoken to him. She changed gears so quickly that it took him a while to answer, though she probably figured he wouldn't. He shouldn't have answered her after her previous actions and her tendency to piss him off every time she opened her mouth, but he still wanted answers. Curiosity got the better of him and he finally replied, though he failed to see the relevance in it.

That she worked through the problem based off of what he told her gave him a better idea of what sort of femme he was dealing with. She mentioned that he had likely had control of her body for some frame of time, though she offered no answer as to the why or how of things. It did make sense, though he didn't appreciate her thinking that he had a problem with medics. It wasn't that, it was just… no. He wasn't about to explain himself to this obstinate Autobot youngling.

It did strike him as odd that she repeatedly told him that she was in and out of their medical ward, something that he thought the Autobots didn't like to happen with their femmes. Of course there were exceptions to this, and no one could control the femmes in Elita-1's femme conjugate, but still. This one was far too young to be one of Elita's femmes, and not young enough to have been stationed with Raindance in the hideaway with those femmes that were not going to fight. He held his curiosity to himself for a while longer, then just asked the question that was plaguing his processor.

'_You say you are a femme, and yet you are repeatedly exposed to danger that has you damaged enough to see a medic. So then, little one, what exactly do you do with yourself that is so dangerous?' _

As he awaited her response he poked at her psyche, trying to encourage her to answer him quickly. Once this question was answered, they could get back on task, his curiosity sated.

Unfortunately, the answer she gave him only gave him more questions that he wanted to be answered. She had claimed to be an _officer_ – a high station, given that she was a femme that he'd never heard of before this. Her age gave him reason to question her claim as well. Even though Prowl had not been much older than the estimated age of this femme, he was a unique case. The Autobot second-in-command was a brilliant tactician with a mind for warfare. So it was almost impossible to believe that this youngling, barely out of her sparklinghood, would be able to match such a feat.

Then, of course, she snorted at herself, startling him from his train of thought. She went on to explain that she hunted down those that disregarded the rights of others, those that would force what should have been a sacred thing. That made much more sense, and was a lot more believable. So she was the same as he was, albeit for a very different reason. To be considered a hunter for any reason meant that she had to be quite the fighter. It would be interesting to see which of them was the better hunter, should their paths ever cross.

He returned from his musings to the sensation of her mind drifting away on some random thought, though he picked it up easily.

"Like before…"

Before what? He wasn't sure, and didn't have time to ask her before he was suddenly forced back into a body that wasn't his own. Immediately the feeling of the leather straps that bound the little femme to the examination table made a sort of panic well up from deep in his spark. He did **NOT** like being tied down like this; he liked it even less that he was being forced to endure this because of some stupid little femme that didn't know how to keep her psyche to herself.

Barricade forced this body into action, turning the wrists over and pulling against the leather straps with all the force available to him. He let out a sound of triumph when the first one snapped under the strain, giving him enough leverage to rip the second one away from the table. Alarms blared overhead once he'd removed the wires decorating his… _her _chest and head, forcing him to hasten his pace. He had to get the hell out of here now, before those squishies made a reappearance and knocked them both clean out again.

He paid no attention to the body he was in, simply making sure nothing was left strapped down and started getting off the table. Of course, the fleshlings that worked at this facility chose that moment to come pouring into the room. Several of them were in uniform, while others wore the customary white that marked them as a medic.

"Touch me and you will regret it!" He roared when the uniformed officials surged forward to try and knock him back onto his back. His warning was not an idle threat. The first of them to lay hands on him went flying across the room, the second he kicked with all the force he could put behind the gesture. Several more went flying across the room before he got tired of it all. He could feel the femme's mind drifting and lashed out, growling out a command with all the force he could manage in his own mind.

'_WAKE UP!'_

He was momentarily forced away from her mind, though he was still stuck its edges, unable to return to his own body. She came back into an upright position immediately, giving him a brief respite before panic threatened to overwhelm him again. There were far too many of them close to his person – too many voices intent on doing them both harm. Primus help him, he had to get them both out of there before he lost his mind.

Her hold on consciousness was tenuous at best, meaning that she wasn't likely to get herself out of this situation. He let out a roar of frustration when the humans forced them both down onto the table again, one of the medics coming forward with another needle filled with some unknown substance. Hell no! No way was he going to let them stick him with that thing again! He fought back with all the strength he could muster in this body, throwing several of them across the room once again.

Darkness clouded the edge of his vision for a moment before he realized she was about to pass out again. He was stuck in control of her body, while she started drifting towards unconsciousness again.

This would not do.

'_Don't you dare! Stay awake! You have to move!' _he had ordered her, putting a strong mental push into his words as he tried to force her to remain online. If she went out again now, he'd do something unfortunate to these people that could alert the Autobots to his presence. He could tell when she went offline again, because her mind was suddenly a blank wall next to his.

"**DAMNIT!" **he growled out, finally clearing himself from the men that held the body he was in charge of and getting to his feet. It was a better tactical advantage this way, since they couldn't get around behind him due to the table at his back. Hopefully the advantage would be more than enough to get them out of here.

_____________________

That's it.  
Toldya I'd get a new one up today.  
Anyway, I hope you enjoy it and please R & R.


	6. Return to Tranquility

To Protect and Serve

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers or any of its affiliated characters. Only the mentioned humans not native to the universe belong to me, so please don't use them without my permission. I also don't own Snickers. A thanks goes out to my esteemed betas and Shini_666 for all their help and support since I first started writing this story.

Notes: I know very little about the inner workings of the LAPD or any other police department, so this is going off what I've perceived from various cop shows and my own thoughts on the matter. Now on with the story.

* * *

Chapter Six: Return to Tranquility

* * *

_Five Days Later..._

It had been a difficult few days. Five days ago she'd been released from the hospital on the agreement that she wouldn't be leaving the city any time soon. Her test results had yet to come in, but the doctor had already told her that her injuries were pretty much gone. He wanted her back in at the end of the week for a follow-up and to introduce her to a few of his colleagues. She'd become somewhat of a medical marvel because of how quickly her injuries had healed. She'd come into the hospital concussed, bruises lining from her shoulders all the way down to her butt with darker ones marring along her spine. From what she'd seen of her car she should have been dead on impact, but here she was up and walking with little more to show for it than a pale line of bruising down her back.

Faith had been given a two day leeway for healing time before she'd been called in to present her report to the Chief of Police. What she'd been able to coherently report didn't fill in near enough of the gaps there were in her time frame. Jacob Riley was a fair man, an honest man, but even he had his limits. Three days ago she'd been removed from duty pending a psyche evaluation from the precinct psychiatrist. He'd taken her badge and her gun as a precaution. She couldn't really blame him either, not after she'd seen what her 'guest' had done to some of the officers in her unit while she'd been unconscious. No one wanted to trust her right now, though some were chalking it all up to her head injury. After all, many people acted out of character with head trauma. At least, that was what she told herself.

Yesterday she'd called both work and the doctor to tell them she was heading out to Tranquility on a family emergency. Her sister had called her late that night in hysterics and rambling on about explosions and missing dogs. If Cordelia hadn't been blind she'd have calmed her over the phone and told her to sit tight until she could get permission to leave, but Cordelia was blind and without her dog she couldn't leave her home. Chief Riley had lived down the street from them for years and still had family in the area, but she'd had to fight with the doctors over leaving the city. Which was why she had her cell phone on when normally it would be turned off while she was off duty.

It was 2:30 in the morning now, and she was driving down a nearly deserted highway bound for Tranquility once more. Her Ford was still in LA, since she couldn't exactly bring her on duty vehicle for an off duty trip. That didn't even consider that the vehicle in question was part of an ongoing investigation as to what had happened to her on the side streets of Tranquility. So she relied on her father's old Datsun to get her where she needed to go. The former police vehicle had been downgraded to a civilian vehicle when her father had been killed on duty. It was the only real reminder of her father she and her sister had, since their childhood home had burned to the ground. They'd rebuilt, but nothing of the original house had survived. The once black and white vehicle was now a dark blue, the sirens and lights long since removed to make it compliant with local laws. It still handled well and was well cared for, which was all Faith cared about. Bringing it to Ronnie every time something went wrong helped to. Her fellow officer moonlighted as a mechanic, which was useful.

Around the time she reached the city, just as the sun was rising over the horizon, her long silent mental guest decided to make himself known once more. _**'What are you doing outside your patrol region?' **_He sounded more curious than anything else, and by the almost muted sense of his presence she was getting he was probably resting or in 'recharge' as he put it. The brunette swerved a little on the road, her entire frame tensing at his sudden reappearance.

"Can't you just leave me alone? I'm a little busy right now." Her words were bitten out, her voice low as she concentrated on the road ahead of her. "And just how do you know that I'm not where I'm supposed to be? I thought you didn't know where I was."

A rumbling sound preceded his words, something akin to a human complaining somewhat at being stirred while they were sleeping. Though she'd never call anything he did complaining, at least not where he could understand her.

_**'You are mobile and online during a time you would normally be in your recharge cycle. I gathered from the last time we spoke that you aren't normally away from the city you patrol, and you aren't surrounded by the noise and press of the city so I assume you are away from there. Your question confirms that.' **_He spoke calmly, as if he were explaining some simple concept to a child. Faith didn't appreciate that at all, but she knew better than to aggravate him just for being an ass. It was easier to get answers from him when he wasn't irritated with her.

"And how would you even know if I'm in the city or not?" She kept the conversation going more for her benefit than to keep him from getting pissed off at her. She needed the distraction to keep herself awake until she got to Cordelia's home. Having been awake since her sister's phone call the night before she was running on fumes. Two cups of coffee and a Snicker's bar weren't helping much, and the crash was worse than just fighting off exhaustion. She cursed herself silently there. She'd gone longer than this with little to no rest in the past and hadn't been so bad off, so why was it affecting her so strongly now? On a case she had to be always on alert in case someone tailed her home or something like that. Perhaps it was the adrenaline that came with hunting down criminals like that, or of knowing that she could become a victim fairly easily. Either way, she wished she had a little of that energy now.

Just like that she suddenly felt better, her mind and body flinging off her exhaustion as if it had never been there. Normally she would have questioned this, but now she just praised the coming of her second wind. She'd have to be awake and aware when she got to her sister's place. They'd have to find the AWOL golden retriever plus search around and figure out what the explosion had been before Cordelia would feel any better about the situation and they could both get some rest.

Her earlier question went unanswered during this time, though she could absently feel the presence of her odd guest still at the far reaches of her mind. When he did answer he sounded strange, as if he'd just been startled by something. _**'Comm echo would tell me generally where you are. Sounds like static to most, or so I'm told.'**_ There was a long pause, the sensation of something being off with her guest becoming stronger for the longest time before he spoke again. _**'You didn't answer my question.'**_

"Oh yes I did. First, its none of your business where I am or what I'm doing. Second, I'm too busy right now to argue with you. So you can just back off and mind your own business."

She expected him to get angry as he'd done before when she'd back talked him, expected ranting and cursing and perhaps even idle threats, but what she got was far different. _**'Are you hunting then?'**_ There was a stillness to him that she hadn't felt before. It was different from the stillness that settled between them when he was silent. This was almost like some predator crouched to pounce. Except she wasn't the prey, she was a fellow predator in his eyes. Someone to be worked with towards a common goal. The sensation was almost frightening, except that she knew he was nowhere close enough to hurt her.

The young officer sighed and steadied the car on the road. "No, I'm not. I've been removed from duty." She didn't add that it was his fault that she was currently on forced leave, nor that they wanted her to prove her mental and physical state before they'd even consider letting her back on the force. It was frustrating.

_**'Removed? Surely your commander understood what happened when you explained it to him. It isn't so far fetched an idea, after all.'**_ There was confusion again, and that stillness was now gone. It was both a relief and something of a disappointment, though she couldn't explain the latter feeling.

"Apparently I'm a safety hazard to my fellow officers." She was annoyed now, only managing to keep the how's and why's of the situation out of her words.

_**'Safety haz- Well that's a load of slag. I rescue you from a bunch of squishies and they call you a safety hazard? Did you try bypassing your unit commander and going straight to Prime?'**_ He seemed as if he'd wanted to get irritated about the situation, but remained completely subdued. If she didn't know any better, she'd say he was exhausted. A lack of energy would explain his current state of calm and his unwillingness to get even the slightest bit annoyed. Too much energy would be expended that way.

Faith had no idea who this Prime was he spoke of, but guessed it was the leader of whatever faction he was against. She'd already gathered he wasn't working for this Prime, otherwise he would have spoken on her behalf as he seemed to think she was of his kind. "And having someone from an opposing unit in my head and with the ability to take over my body isn't a safety hazard? If not a full out security risk?" She could play the game well enough, half ass her way through a conversation so long as she wasn't mentioning anyone specifically.

_**'You have a point there, femme. I can see Red Alert glitching himself half into deactivation with news like that. Of course, as far as I'm aware, there are only a handful of Autobots on this miserable mudball of a planet and none of them are the security officer. Of course, I didn't think any of the femmes had reached here either, so perhaps my information is off.'**_ He was silent again, reevaluating his situation she assumed. Whatever it was it kept him silent almost until she reached Cordelia's house in the middle of Tranquility. '_**Who is your unit commander? Who do you report to?'**_

Faith pulled into the driveway of her sister's residence and paused, wracking her brain for a name that would seem feasible. She could only think of one name of a military man, and could only hope it matched up to something he knew. "Major Will Lennox."

_**'I didn't want the name of the squishy you report to for cover, but I get what you mean. Its no wonder they removed you from duty then. Ironhide doesn't take chances with the safety of their group, especially since they lost that half-bit glitch Jazz at Mission City.'**_

"Yes well..." She got out of her car, her voice kept soft so as not to seem like she was talking to herself. Trying to communicate within the weird link that existed between them unnerved her enough that she'd rather not risk using it again. "I can't talk to you anymore, I have...personal business to take care of."

_**'Sparkmate?'**_ Curiosity once more, no trace of interest at all past what he could casually learn of her and her situation. '_**Or a lover, perhaps.'**_

The dark haired detective was suddenly glad that he couldn't see her, because her face turned an interesting color of red. It wasn't just the question or the assumptions he'd put forth, it was that he'd asked about it in a very disinterested tone of voice. He didn't care that he was asking personal questions, and it seemed as if he had become accustomed enough to her presence that he used her as a way to keep from becoming bored. It was infuriating and embarrassing all at once.

"No, my sister." She bit the words out, fighting down the color in her face as she came to the front door and knocked loudly. Cordelia knew where everything in the house was, but if she wasn't in the front room you had to knock loud enough for her to figure out that she needed to go to the front or back door, respectively. When she didn't hear the normal barking of her sister's constant companion she knew something was wrong. Delta was a good dog, he'd never just leave his mistress behind like that. Loyalty, thy name is canine.

_**'Sister? A twin?'**_ There was an almost odd undertone to his rough voice as if that news, at least, was something that did more than eased boredom. She didn't understand how news of a husband or lover would have been met with such disinterest while something as simple as her sister evoked an almost interested response.

"Younger sister, not my twin. You must have a sibling, you sounded so interested just now." She mentioned to him before falling silent as the door came open and her little sister appeared before her. She didn't even have to speak for Cordelia to know it was her, and suddenly found herself with an armful of hysterical sibling.

It bothered her that her usually even tempered little sister was so upset, and the tears coming from sightless eyes didn't help matters much either. "Hush now, sweetheart, I'm here. It'll be okay." She soothed the distressed young woman, wrapping her arms around her and holding her close for a long moment before leading them both inside and shutting the door with a nudge of her foot.

_**'You are distressed. Why?'**_ He sounded almost concerned, and for a moment the shock kept her from answering him. Of course in that moment he seemed to realize how his words had come out and corrected himself with a low rumbling growl-like sound. '_**Never mind.'**_

It was because of his moment of concern that she concentrated enough to answer him silently instead of aloud as she had been doing. Usually he told her not to speak aloud because she could be overheard that way, but as she'd been alone all this time it hadn't mattered what he thought and he hadn't brought it up so she did as she chose. Since she was currently sitting on the couch with her sister curled in her lap like a lost child she couldn't speak to him that way any longer. _'My sister is upset and it bothers me. She's usually the more even tempered between the two of us, so I rarely see her so upset like this.'_

_**'If she is as you say then what set her off? Something severe, I'd guess.'**_ His voice was back under control, the concern of moments before completely absent from his mental voice once more. He sounded vaguely disinterested now, which told Faith that his disinterested tone was probably how he hid his real reactions from the world at large.

_'Delta has gone missing. Without him she can't go anywhere and she's here all alone. Add that to the fact that there was some explosion near here last night and anyone would be scared.'_

_**'This Delta is her companion then?'**_ Interest again, though only just. It was better than the disinterested, almost bored tone he usually used. The brunette had the vague notion that he may just be a little bipolar or something to that extent. If his kind could be bipolar, that is. _**'And why wouldn't she be able to leave her residence? Surely there are others close by that can assist and protect her.'**_ Again she got the impression that the male she was speaking to was something other than just a crass chauvinistic pig. He almost spoke like an old world knight at times. Words like 'surely' and 'assist' added to that. No one talked that way anymore, least of all if they were of the male persuasion.

_'Delta helps her do things she can't do herself. And he keeps her company since I can't always be here for her. The neighbors know about her condition, but most of them aren't home when she would really need their help.'_

'_**Condition?'**_ He was definitely interested now, which didn't surprise her in the least. Most people became interested in what she was saying when she started talking about Cordelia's problem.

_'My sister is blind. Delta was brought to her to help her out, and he does a good job. He's so loyal to her I can't even imagine where he's gotten off to. He wouldn't just leave her without help. She's worried about him, and she's been alone in this house since late last night.'_

_**'Blind? Why would anyone allow themselves to remain so vulnerable, especially during a time of war? Wouldn't Ratchet have repaired her if she went to him with this problem?' **_His tone had shifted, settling somewhere between confusion and disbelief.

_'Its an inoperable problem. Believe me, if there was any way for her to have her sight back we'd have tried it by now, and the price be damned. I'd have found a way to pay for it.' _The conviction in her voice was enough that she knew he got the message. It helped that he didn't ask about Cordelia's lack of sight again, instead redirecting the conversation to the matter of the missing canine.

_**'You are a hunter, track her companion. It couldn't be so hard a thing for you, if you are as you say you are.'**_

_'And leave her by herself again? Have you lost your mind?' _She said it calmly, well aware that she'd probably just pissed him off. Overturning someone's thoughts with an equally as valid point never made anyone happy. Plus he had a temper problem that she'd seen several times already.

A rumbling growl was his answer, followed by the impression of someone large fuming near enough to her that she could almost feel the repressed violence rolling off of him. Faith took great delight in seeing how far she could push her mysterious guest before he lashed out at her, though had enough of a sense of self preservation not to push him once he reached that point. Her cop's instincts told her he was capable of great violence, and to push him past cursing and the oppressive press of his presence could mean her downfall.

_**'You,'**_ He began slowly, the forceful sensation of rage filling her mind from his presence, _**'Are a very vexing femme.'**_

_'And you need to watch that temper of yours._' She told him sweetly, repressing the urge to laugh out loud when he began cursing very fluently at her. Again, the terms he used were mechanical in nature, though she got the gist of what he was calling her.

Faith finally returned her attention to her sister, the slender girl still curled up in her lap. It was with great relief that she noted that Cordelia had stopped crying and was just holding onto her for comfort now more than just from a desperate need to have someone there with her. "Feeling better now, Cor?" She asked softly, rubbing a hand down the younger woman's back.

Faded gray eyes appeared from under the mass of brown hair that had previously hidden her face from view. "I'm okay. Thanks for coming Faith."

"Its no problem. You're my sister, I'd do anything for you." A smile settled over her features, though the other woman couldn't see it. Cordelia Norton was a pretty young woman with her long chestnut hair, cherub like face, and slender frame. She was talented too, in a way that Faith could never be. Cordelia was a composer, her mind able to come up with beautiful compositions of music with an ease that left many heads spinning. The problem with this? Cordelia was blind. Now that didn't detract from her love of music and her ability to compose, but it had kept her from going off to Julliard as she'd wanted to do. The prestigious school would have accommodated her, but she'd declined their offer. It was almost like the younger Norton girl didn't want to leave Tranquility as she'd once wished to so fervently.

Most of her so-called 'friends' also disappeared when she'd lost her sight. It was as if, without her eyes, she was no longer a person to them. People like that weren't really the young woman's friends anyway, but it had still caused her sister so much grief. She had a small, close knit group of friends now, but many of the guys around there wanted little to do with her. So, at twenty two, Cordelia lived with just her dog for companionship. Of course her friends kept her company, but they couldn't be there for her all the time. They had lives of their own to lead, and couldn't be expected to spend all their time with Cordelia. Her friend Mark had gotten Delta as a sort of alternative. Delta could be with her all the time, and he could help her get out and do normal things like a normal person. Cordelia loved that dog, as he'd given her her life back. She was still a normal person, just had to go about things differently. Faith hoped Mark would eventually turn out to be the man to help Cordelia believe in her happily ever after again. Mark Houston was a good man, a hard worker, and he adored Faith's sister. The man just didn't know what he had right in front of him.

Long fingered hands slid slowly down her arms as the younger woman made to sit up on the couch. Her braided hair was absently flung back over her shoulder, though she usually wore it over said shoulder. With her natural calm returning Faith's nerves began to settle as well.

"Did you find Delta?" The question was quiet, hopeful even.

"Not yet. I came in to check on you first. Let's eat some breakfast then I'll go out and see if I can find that mutt of yours."

"He's not a mutt Faith."

"Fine, then he's a big lug." Faith laughed at that, the easy teasing between them telling her that Cordelia was finally feeling better.

She watched as her sister slid her hands along the couch until she could stand, knowing from years of experience where everything was and able to do most things herself now. She could even cook, though usually only with Delta's help. She couldn't tell what something was by just touching it, not all the time. So at times she'd be reaching for milk and end up with orange juice or whatever the juice of the week was in her refrigerator.

"I'll give you a hand."

"No, that's alright. You must be tired from your-"

Her soft voice cut off abruptly, her head tilting to one side as she listened to something that Faith obviously wasn't hearing. Of course, about two minutes later, she didn't have to hear it. She could feel it. Great booms shook the house under their feet, the sound almost enough that she thought it an earthquake. It was only gut instinct that told her that it was something else entirely. Sounded too much like a bomb going off. "Cordy, is dad's old handgun still in his study?"

"Yes, locked in the desk drawer."

"Where is the key?"

"Under the loose stone on the mantle. Faith, what's going on?"

"I don't know, but I intend to find out."

With those words she entered into what she called her 'cop-mode', her mind switching from civilian to police officer in a matter of seconds. The gun, an old Browning, was quickly retrieved and loaded. It was only with the barest pause that she made sure that it was still going to work before she left the house with the gun drawn and pointed skyward. The safety was off so she didn't take any chances.

She was almost twenty feet away from the house when she heard the voice again. _**'You've gone still. I thought you weren't hunting today.'**_

_'I wasn't, not until I heard bombs being thrown close by. I have to protect my family, and these people are my responsibility. To Protect and Serve, as the saying goes.'_

_**'You sound like Prowl when you speak that way. Ever the responsible one, always doing what's best for everyone but yourself.' **_He sounded somewhat nostalgic as he spoke, but it was quickly shaken off and replaced by his earlier stillness. '_**What are you hunting then, little one?'**_

_'Someone with a death wish. This entire neighborhood is filled with the families of soldiers and officers. You mess with one of us then you mess with all of us.' _She paused as she had to climb over the wooden fence that separated their backyard from a derelict house on the block behind them. She could see even from there that the roof had been blown inward from some great force. It was odd that it was like that, as a bomb on the inside of the building should have blown everything outwards. The flames licking along the windows and out of the hole in the roof were odd too. A bomb could have caused the fire, but it shouldn't have spread so quickly. Of course, she wasn't on the bomb squad so her estimate could have been wrong.

_**'Your sibling must live in a human occupied area. There are not that many of us on this wretched little mudball. The cover is ideal, especially if she is as you say she is. Safety surrounded by fleshlings that flock to defend their own, interesting concept.'**_

_'Shut up already.' _Faith actually growled when she thought this at him, no longer in the mood to deal with his particular brand of chauvinistic smart ass.

_**'As you wish femme. For now.'**_

It occurred to her then that she could have been dealing with an explosion caused by a gas leak. In which case she was looking at squatters trying to start a fire instead of someone trying to blow them all to bits. As she circled the house she looked for the telltale signs that the situation was one thing or the other. What it was would determine how she dealt with it. Still, she silently hoped Cordelia was calling the police. An ambulance wouldn't have been too bad an idea either, given the situation.

It was only when she'd reached the side of the house and could see the massive hole in the side of the building that she realized she was dealing with neither of her previously considered scenarios. This was something far different. The damage to this house and the one next door had been from a massive impact from what looked to her like a fallen satellite. At least it looked like just a satellite until the thing under it started shifting and pushing to get free. The first thing she saw was a mass of white metal covered in scorch marks and dented severely in more than one place. As her eyes widened and her gun was leveled on instinct her mind finally caught up to what she was seeing.

There, right in front of her eyes, was a certified alien robot. So she did what any self respecting woman would do in that situation; she screamed. "AHHH!" And backed away as she shot at the large monstrosity in front of her. Normally she gave people the benefit of the doubt, but this was not a person by any stretch of the imagination. This was an alien probably there to take over the world or something. It looked like those things that had rained hell down on Mission City.

The satellite was shoved at a second time, revealing more of the alien in all his huge glory. What she'd originally assumed was a solid white was actually two-toned. Black and white like a police vehicle. The gun she'd been firing clicked empty and she backed up quickly from the alien. "Oh my dear lord..." She breathed, eyes the size of sauce pans as she tried to both escape and keep her eyes on the alien at the same time. Which resulted in her tripping over a piece of debris and falling to the ground in an unceremonious heap.

_**'Stop panicking! Tell me what's happening.'**_ Her visitor demanded, drawing Faith's attention away from the alien momentarily. She'd forgotten that he was still speaking to her, forgotten that he'd been close enough to question who she was hunting only minutes before.

"Oh my god..."

_**'That doesn't help me!'**_

A giant hand reached out from the pile of metal, the trembling along it suggesting that the alien was severely injured. "I will not hurt you, little one." The voice was low, almost like the voice of her mental guest without the added growl to it. Finely cultured and filled with a sort of authority that she usually found in long time cops and soldiers. And the nickname was the same. Little one, they both referred to her as little one. Why was that?

She didn't have time to ponder that because a near hysterical shriek came forth from her mouth again at the approach of its hand. She was usually so calm during tense situations, but she figured this entitled her to a freak out of massive proportions.

_**'Blast you femme!'**_ She heard his aggravated voice before her mind was pushed under forcefully and she rose against her will. The way her body was held was different from how she normally would be, and it told her that she'd lost control of herself again. He was in control, and this time she wasn't going to try and stop him. If he could get her out of this situation then she wouldn't complain.

The alien's hand paused, suspended in the air while the rest of him was still partially obscured under what she now realized was a communications satellite. A very large communications satellite at that. The hand pressed against the ground long enough for one final heave to get rid of the satellite that she assumed had brought him down to Earth. The urge to run hit her hard, but was subdued by the older presence locked firmly onto her mind. Shock registered from her companion for a long moment as they finally got their first real look at the alien's full form.

Damages aside he was taller than the building, topping somewhere between 20-25 feet in height. Two toned wing like protrusions sat almost straight out from his frame, shifting as he moved as if they were some extra appendage. They almost looked like they'd be doors on a car, but she couldn't be certain of that either. Who knew what the physiology of giant alien robots was supposed to be. What really drew her attention, though, was the electric blue eyes that shone brightly with a sort of keen intelligence.

He, and from her mental companion she now knew that the alien was indeed a he, shifted into a kneeling position and held his hand out once more. This time it was palm out, his fingers left out from the fist to keep from seeming threatening in any fashion. "I mean you no harm. I know my appearance here has come as somewhat of a surprise, but could you kindly refrain from that audio shattering shrieking?" He paused, curling his fingers somewhat and extending a single digit to her.

The presence had retreated, confusion warring with some unnameable desire to keep him too occupied to control her frame any longer. Which meant she was once more on her own against this giant alien robot. Now that the initial surge of fear that had triggered her fight or flight response had passed Faith found herself more curious about this strange metal giant than terrified. Was that strange? Probably so.

"You know, most people would have run screaming. That would have been the smart thing to do." Her arms crossed over herself, her gaze on the still extended hand as if she thought it was going to suddenly lash forward and squish her.

"It would certainly be the logical reaction to such a surprising encounter." He agreed, shifting more to plant his other hand against the ground so that he could lean forward to get a better look at her. The movement triggered her fight or flight response again, as she backed up and tensed herself to bolt. He seemed to realize his proximity frightened her, because he moved back in the next moment. "My apologies femme. It was not my intention to frighten you." He paused, seeming to consider his next words. "My designation is Prowl." Another pause, and a blue light ran over her frame from a beam that he cast from his eyes. "You are registered with the Los Angeles Police Department. Detective Faith Norton, currently on a suspension of duty."

Faith was having a hard time deciding if she should make a break for it and hope this robotic thing went away, or staying and allowing herself to get steadily more freaked out. He knew her name, he knew where she worked, all with just a look. How? Why?

Her thoughts were sharply interrupted when the alien spoke again. "You have no reason to fear me. I will not harm you." He was reiterating his words, as if she were some wild animal primed to bolt with the slightest disturbance. Why did he and her mental guest have to do that? It was irritating.

"What are you doing here?" Well, at least she'd found her voice, even if she did sound small and frightened. Which, given that she was standing next to this large robotic creature, wasn't far from the truth.

"I'm afraid that is not information you need to be made aware of. I will say that I hadn't intended to land in a residential area."

He was being purposefully vague, as if he didn't want to share too much information with her. It was the way military types spoke to a civilian that somehow got caught in the middle of a firefight. It was how she spoke to civilians during an investigation when they asked too many questions regarding a case. It told her more about him than he'd probably intended. He was a soldier, probably of some rank by the way her mental companion had gone quiet so quickly.

"Your kind do shake hands to greet each other, do you not? Or have I landed further off my intended target than I initially thought?" When he spoke up she started, having been deep enough in her own thoughts to not have noticed that his extended finger was indeed a form of greeting. He was attempting to reassure her by acclimating himself to her culture. It was a valiant effort, but ultimately one that was wasted since his sheer size still intimidated her.

"You...you're in Tranquility, California." She offered quietly, still holding herself so that she didn't suddenly bolt. Her head snapped back at a sudden spurt of intuition that came from out of nowhere. He was injured enough that he couldn't give chase if she ran, and he wouldn't be able to find her once she left his range of sight. She wasn't sure how she knew these things, just that she did. It was almost as if someone was telling her without words, which was insane.

"Not far off at all then. Excellent. I had feared my encounter with the satellite had knocked me off my intended trajectory. Now if I can just find local camouflage then I can remove myself from your presence before I cause anymore unintended disturbance." He made to stand, but something inside his frame protested and gave an ominous groan before giving out and sending the robot back to his knees. It also knocked Faith on her butt for a long few seconds before she scrambled back to her feet. "Well, it appears I must impose upon you for awhile longer. Would you know a way I can get into contact with a Major Will Lennox? I would do so myself, but..." He paused, shifting the wing like protrusions so that she could see that they were mangled. "I seem to have damaged my means of communication in the impact with your planet."

"You...you aren't going to squish me or anything, are you?"

His blue eyes stared at her a long moment at her question, as if he were trying to divine some secret that she was keeping by just looking her over. It felt very creepy, like how a serial rapist looked at a victim as he tracked them. She knew how that felt too, from having to visit one in prison to catch another.

"Have you encountered Decepticons then? To fear I will squish you when I have offered no aggression." Faith was starting to notice that this Prowl spoke with a sort of no-nonsense tone that demanded he be given the full attention of whomever he was speaking to. It was different than the growling tone of her unnamed mental guest, though the force of personality was very similar. Could it be possible they were the same species, or maybe even the sibling she was sure her guest had? It was possible, especially given what she already knew of him.

_**'Don't tell him you've spoken with me!' **_His voice came suddenly, a powerful force nearly overwhelming her mind with its abrupt arrival. It was enough that she staggered forward, her hands automatically reaching out to catch her just to find herself collapsed into a giant hand.

There was a short pause and then a shock rushed through her frame, making her jump and causing Prowl to flinch above her. She also sensed her guest flinch physically, the impression strong enough that she flinched again as well. "The hell was that?" Her demand was met with silence, and a shaking hand traced a finger hesitantly down her back only to snatch back when they were all three shocked once again.

"Barricade. You've had contact with him. More than that." There was a short pause. "You are not as you appear to be, Faith Norton. You have been in contact with a Decepticon, one even our best trackers have been unable to find. Why are you assisting him? Where is he now?" He didn't sound so reassuring now, more like he was willing to do whatever it took to get the information he wanted. Faith bit back the urge to scream a third time, deciding that screaming at him wouldn't make matters any better. Besides, she was starting to get annoyed with his treatment of her. She was not a criminal, she hadn't done anything wrong.

So she gathered her courage and did what she did best; she took him head on despite her fears. "Why don't you loose the attitude. I don't know who or what a Barricade is or what in God's great name a Decepticon is supposed to be, but you have no right to demand anything of me. I am not one of your subordinates, nor am I some half wit that you can intimidate into answers that I just don't have. So back off and try talking to me like we're both intelligent beings."

His large fingers were curved slightly around her, as they had been since he'd apparently reached out to catch her when she'd fallen. One of those fingers accidentally brushed against one of her legs and shocked her again, nearly making her jump out of her skin. "And stop shocking me already!"

"It wasn't my intent to 'shock' you, as you so bluntly put it." The words were almost bitten out, annoyance clouding the big robot's tone. It made her very aware of how much like her guest this creature was, just from the sensation of repressed violence that briefly rolled off him before he pushed it away. He was far more controlled than her mental guest, as if his natural response to the things around him were somehow being filtered. Rather by intent or an imbalance of some sort, she didn't know and didn't want to know.

There was a growl from somewhere in the darkness, and both she and Prowl tensed at it. A big blur of blond canine leapt from the darkness, biting onto one of the black and white fingers that she sat in and snarling menacingly. Faith nearly had a panic attack as she was knocked out of the hand she'd been sitting in.

"Delta! Bad boy! Let the giant robot go! Its okay, he's not hurting me!" She yelled over the snarling of the large canine, grabbing at handfuls of fur at the dog's back and pulling back hard enough that she knew it had to have hurt. He didn't yelp though, just let go of the finger he'd been attacking to 'defend' her and rolled to start licking her face submissively. "Its okay, you're a good dog. Your mistress has been worried sick about you. And here you are gallivanting around attacking defenseless robots. You go home right now! Go home Delta." Her voice was firm enough to get her point across without sounding too severe. After all, Delta had probably heard the initial crash and gone to see what it was. He was just doing what he was trained to do, despite there being no real threat to Cordelia's well being. He was a good dog, just a little off course sometimes.

"Sorry."

Faith looked back up to address the robot again, only to have a finger gently pressed against her chest until she sat back down under the force of a particularly strong shock. The hand shot back again, this time to press firmly against his own chest as an expression that was somewhere between shock and distress settled over his otherwise stoic features. When she finally stood again he curled his fingers around her helpfully to allow her to balance if she needed. The moment she grabbed onto one of those fingers to keep from falling something far worse than the shocks she'd previously received passed through her, dragging an additional two minds along with her.

_Her mind seemed to open up, images of the past few days flashing before her eyes in rapid succession. She was following a damaged police vehicle marked for the LAPD, praying he went off the road soon to avoid hurting any of the civilian drivers. She was sliding down a muddy ditch to search for a driver to the trashed Saleen. She heard a voice calling for help and extended her own offer, keeping him talking so that she could locate him faster so that she could render aid before he died. Her concern over how injured the driver of the Mustang had to be just from the look of the car itself. Bantering with the officer she'd come to help, his familiar pleading voice as she misunderstood what he meant when he spoke to her. The odd blue orb that flashed and flickered terribly as she stared horrified. Trying to climb back up the side of the ditch only to have that voice and that orb be everywhere and nowhere all at once. Being thrown back against her car, waking in a fit of terror and fury that she didn't understand. Discovering the man she'd been speaking to for so long, fighting with him and learning with him about the situation they found themselves in. Her realization that he wasn't human, of finding herself transferred into his body when she passed out in the hospital. Of being forced back and forth within her body as he fought to get them free. Of knowing he was living a nightmare though he hadn't admitted it._

_**FLASH!**_

_He was following some kid his partner had located on the internet, someone with a tie to something they were searching for. The boy was terrified, but that wasn't going to stop them. Of being forced to give chase when the yellow nuisance known as Bumblebee rescued the boy and added a second fleshling to the equation. Of fighting with the younger bot and allowing him to believe he'd been beaten so that Frenzy could infiltrate their enemies and hopefully provide some useful information. Of traveling further and further on the useless mudball of a planet while his partner transmitted constantly. The feeling of viscous satisfaction when their esteemed leader was released from human containment, and the sensation of knowing where they'd hidden the Allspark. The call of their Lord to come to arms, to catch the boy and the scout as they fled towards a larger human settlement. Then going back to find Frenzy when the little glitch didn't report in when called, thus missing the massive battle at the place known as Mission City. Suddenly finding himself alone on a hostile alien planet surrounded by his enemies, and knowing that Starscream had abandoned he and the as of yet undiscovered Scorponok._

_**FLASH!**_

_Then there was space, lots and lots of space. The stars, nebula, and planets held no interest to him. They were merely a means to keeping track of where he'd been and where he'd yet to arrive. The forced lock down over his emotions and his own needs, ignored to the point of breaking. He'd had to, there had been no time to deal with the aftermath of loss and loneliness being a drifter in space had brought. Not when there were others searching for a path, and he needed to guide them. He had to bring them all to Prime, to be assured that whoever was left would survive. He'd gathered them to his location, then lost most of them to a black hole. So he'd doubled back, diverted from his original course, to collect a lost spark among the stars. He'd made certain the red mech made a safe landing before plotting his own entry trajectory, except that he hadn't been able to see the satellite until it was drawn to his pod in a collision that had sent him plummeting to the planet below with no idea if he'd survive or even be able to complete his own mission._

She came out of the dragged out memories gasping for air, finding herself on her hands and knees on the ground instead of within the hand that had caught her. Prowl was in a similar position, his frame shaking as he made a heaving sound and dug a hand against his chest as if something there was hurting him. She realized that not all of the memories were hers, that some of them had belonged to her mental guest while others had obviously belonged to Prowl. There was no telling how much time passed before the choking and shaking in their frames began to ease, as time held no meaning in those moments. Finally Faith managed to compose herself, Prowl doing the same after a long moment. Though it didn't last for her.

An image flashed before her eyes again, one of a familiar black and white Mustang swerving on the road to crash in a thin grove of trees. Of the flipped over vehicle changing shape while she watched in wonder. A sharp frame became noticeable out of the former vehicle, with a height equaling that of the black and white she was sitting next to. Eyes the color of a blazing flame looked in her direction, a moment of surprise passing over his features before she was once more sitting in what remained of a derelict building with Prowl staring at her with a look that she couldn't decipher.

"What was _**that**_?" She demanded this time, shakily standing to face the large black and white once again. "And don't evade the question this time!" Hands were on her hips, fear forgotten in favor of her anger. At least with anger she didn't have to think about the twenty plus foot of robot stepping on her or something.

Instead of answering her immediately Prowl shifted his large frame back into a kneeling position and looked her over. He sounded almost horrified as he spoke again. "Good Primus Barricade, what have you done?"

"That isn't an answer!" Faith was starting to get really freaked out over this entire thing. The thought to get the hell out of there surfaced again, and this time she felt her guest strongly agree with her. "You know what? Never mind, I don't want to know. I'm out of here." Something told her that it would be a bad idea to simply bolt, to run in the presence of this odd alien being. It would draw his attention like a sudden movement drew predators. Though he was too injured to give pursuit, he may have other means of stopping her if his attention came back to her while she was still close by.

The police detective walked briskly away from the ruined building, silently wondering why the place wasn't crawling with police and FBI or whoever it was that handled fallen satellites by then. The alien had been there for awhile now, since late the evening before. He shouldn't have still been sitting there, nonetheless unnoticed by the neighbors as daylight came over the neighborhood. It wasn't her problem anymore, she decided. He'd be found or he wouldn't, it wasn't any of her business.

Oh, how wrong she was.

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I LIVE!  
If anyone is still out there waiting for this story I'm so sorry for the wait.  
Please read and review.


	7. Prowl

To Protect and Serve

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers or any of its affiliated characters. Only the mentioned humans not native to the universe belong to me, so please don't use them without my permission. I also don't own Snickers. A thanks goes out to my esteemed betas and Shini_666 for all their help and support since I first started writing this story.

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Chapter Seven: Prowl

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Well, that could have gone better. He was aware he had, as Jazz so eloquently put it, no social skills. The limits of his ability to deal with others only extended as far as being able to delegate and reinforce orders both in and out of battle. He was Prime's right hand mech, that was both his position and his function. Outside of this capacity he was completely out of his depth. He could deal with his fellow soldiers in battle, could easily face them with decisions that would get them destroyed, and yet outside of this he was hopelessly ill equipped to deal with them. As such he was hardly the most qualified mech to deal with first encounters between their race and the native race of the planet classified as Earth. It didn't matter that Prime and his small entourage had already made first contact; not when he had just dealt with a female of the species outside of the soldiers and two civilians mentioned in Prime's databurst information sent out with his message to those in space.

It just made him even more aware of how out of sorts he was without Jazz there to help him through things like this. It was the special ops mech that was the social, friendly member of their odd partnership. Without him all Prowl could do was revert to his usual means of dealing with others and hope he was going to find Jazz again soon. Being that he hadn't seen his closest friend since the battle at Tyger Pax that really did say something. Of course, he'd seen very few sentient beings since that terrible battle.

He may not have been a very social creature, but that didn't mean he enjoyed being absolutely alone and isolated from all other forms of sentient life. He did enjoy his rare times of peace and quiet, but not to the extent he'd been dealing with in the last few vorn. Why, again, had he decided to remain behind when Prime and the others left following Bumblebee's signal? He'd forgotten and reminded himself countless times, and each time the answer seemed less and less like the right one. Logical? Of course. But was it the right choice to make, separating the joint duties of the second in command, leaving Optimus without his best tactician? Most definitely not. The only reason it had happened was that there was no one else to lead what remained of their troops if both he and Jazz were to accompany Prime. So he'd opted to stay behind, and cursed himself for it every solar cycle afterwords.

Being called by Optimus, after so long with no word, was a blessing. As he'd journeyed towards the mostly blue planet called Earth he'd been forced to shut down some of his less vital functions in order to conserve what little energy he still had within his frame. There was no energon to be found once he'd left the general vicinity of his ruined homeworld, so sacrifices had been made to make sure he'd make it to Optimus and the others. Back to his own kind, back to sanity. Back to where Jazz helped all things in his life make sense. So everything from his weapons to certain advanced programs he'd been running were shut down, and with his isolation taking its tole on his processors, so had his emotional center.

It seemed Primus himself had been smiling upon him as he happened upon Autobot after Autobot searching for Prime and the others. Before he'd entered the system they'd been nearly thirty strong, each one following his lead for hopes that he'd lead them back to their leader and thus to salvation. Some came to him injured, with hopes of finding Ratchet to repair them so that they could still carry on in this war, others were so disillusioned and spark weary of the fighting that they only followed so that they could perhaps find some measure of peace on the planet. A few came that, like himself, had been alone for so long that they'd been forced to shut down some of their processes just to keep from going insane. Those were the ones he worried about the most, as much as he could without his emotions.

Perhaps it was foolish of him to believe they'd make the planet with everyone still with him, and foolishness was not tolerated amongst the ever violent Decepticons. They'd faced several attacks on the way into the system, mostly from a few stray seekers out seeking Starscream, but those stray mechs were in a better position to fight in the vacuum of space and decimated their forces. That was how they'd lost the only marginally medically trained mech they had, as well as a few that deactivated after the fact from injuries none of them were equipped to deal with. Everyone had some basic field knowledge, but none of them after the medic died could deal with something as serious as a shot to the chassis region. Too many good mechs deactivated from their injuries when their CMO was so close at hand. It would be a hard blow for Ratchet, knowing he'd been so close but all unable to reach him.

After their skirmishes had died down he had believed the worst was past them. His small force had been decimated down to a measly twelve, but even those twelve sparks were worth his entire effort to see them safely to Earth and thus to their comrades. It was just outside the orbit of the planet farthest out in the system that a strange phenomenon once more rendered the tactician alone in the vastness of space. A black hole, usually the result of a collapsed star, appeared from no viable source and sucked in all but Prowl himself. He'd tried to save them, but in the end they were still lost to him. Had his emotional center been working he would probably have been very...well not upset exactly, but he wouldn't have been happy with the universe.

Still, once the black hole had sealed itself Prowl had started on his way back towards Earth once more. His projected time of arrival was a mere half a stellar cycle, at least until a distress beacon alerted him to one final lost spark in the darkness. So he'd changed his trajectory once more to circle back to the great ringed planet in the system where he found the most unlikely of mechs; Sideswipe. Alone, without the constant presence of his twin. That didn't bode well for the universe at large, nor for anyone standing between the golden warrior and his red twin. It then became his mission to see Sideswipe safely to Earth and then hopefully to Sunstreaker before searching out a certain saboteur and sticking to him until the world made sense again.

But, as so often had happened to him of late, his plans were derailed. Sideswipe had safely made entry and with luck landfall within the required coordinates, but when Prowl himself tried to head down after him he failed to see the satellite on his scanners and crashed right into it. It was one of the most obvious mistakes to make, but in his currently compromised state he couldn't see past his too close goal and payed the price. The pod itself was battered so much that he had to deal with reentry in his natural state. If not for the hasty deactivation of his pain receptors he doubted he would have made the trip down for the degree of damage he suffered in those long minutes between space and the inner atmosphere. He'd been virtually blinded in his free fall with the downed satellite, none of his normal scanners or sensors working until after he'd cleared the atmosphere. At that point, he almost would have rather remained unaware. He'd come down hard in a native occupied area, taking the roof off of one residence and totally demolishing the other. Not the first impression he'd been hoping to make.

Which, as it stood, brought him back to the problem at hand. He'd been seen, greeted not by fellow Autobots and their human allies, but by a member of a nearby enforcer unit. His comment of earlier stood; that could have gone better. He had honestly tried to get through the unorthodox meeting without either frightening the poor femme or giving in to the sudden urge he had to squish her at the audio piercing screech she gave off. Hmm...Barricade must have been on the planet somewhere, as he was certain he was channeling the other mech's less than favorable tendencies. It also made him realize that at some point during the crash something had reactivated his emotional center. Which would explain his general illease and confusion over what had just taken place.

He'd shared memories with Barricade before, it was a normal enough occurrence between two sparked as they had been. However, never before in all their millenia in existence had there been a third mind privy to theirs. It simply wasn't possible. No outsider could ever come into a long established bond, particularly a twin bond as theirs was. He didn't own up to being the hunter's twin all that often, for practical reasons of course, but that didn't mean that this development bothered him any less.

The femme, Faith Norton, was his only clue both to the location of his sibling and to exactly what had transpired between said sibling and the human femme to cause the reaction they'd been subjected to just recently. And she was leaving at a fairly brisk pace. That wouldn't do, not at all.

"Faith Norton, you must stop." There was much of the authority he used on misbehaving subordinates in his voice, a tactic he'd used countless times with success. Of course, in the case of anything of the femme persuasion, his normal tactics could often backfire. Like now.

The femme officer did stop in her tracks, but when she turned to face him her gaze was practically burning. For a moment he thought those optics...wait, humans called them eyes...were a burning crimson that was painfully familiar to him, but in the next they had returned to their normal hue so he dismissed what he had seen as a trick of his damaged processors. That she had stopped gave him hope that he'd have some sort of rank over her, but in that next moment that thought was banished.

"Go screw yourself, you overgrown piece of scrap metal." A hard growl had formed behind her voice, showing him a hint of something beyond whatever his brother had done. She was an enforcer, and obviously not finished 'ripping him a new one' as the saying went.

"You have some nerve, issuing orders to me. You are the one trespassing here, not me. You are the one that put countless lives in danger with your flaming entrance onto my planet. So you can take your orders, shove them up your...tailpipes, and fart them out for the rest of your life. Good bye."

He was left gaping after her, trying to figure out exactly what had just happened and just why the femme had gotten so perturbed at his comment. Had it been an order? Yes actually, but he hadn't meant to anger her. After all, every smart mech knew it was wise if one wished to keep his spark not to bring down the wrath of a femme on their heads.

So Prowl was left wishing, not for the first time that night, that Jazz was there to help him navigate through the treacherous pathways that made up interacting with femmes. He vented loudly. Primus hated him.

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Author's Notes:

Sorry for taking so long, hopefully having two come out will make up for it.

I hate portraying Prowl, so I'm not sure how well he came out.

Comments and constructive criticism are always welcome.


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